Two men have pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to taking part in a violent confrontation between a Dublin criminal gang and a gang linked to the INLA, during which a man died.
The court was told yesterday that the INLA group stripped, beat and interrogated members of the criminal gang, held drills to the backs of their knees and threatened to shoot them.
Declan Duffy (27), from Co Armagh with an address at Fatima Mansions, Dublin, and Patrick O'Toole (23), of Tallaght, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a shotgun and to falsely imprisoning four men at Ballymount Road Industrial Estate in Dublin on October 6th last year.
Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, said a van belonging to a Dublin criminal was destroyed in an arson attack and people connected to a unit at the industrial estate believed they would be asked for money to compensate the criminal figure.
They contacted the INLA gang, who then hid in the unit at the industrial estate. At 8.15 p.m. a group arrived to collect compensation for the van. The INLA group emerged from hiding, confronted the other group and forced them to lie on the factory floor where they were stripped, bound and severely beaten. "Drills were held to the backs of their knees, guns were put behind their heads and they were told to leave the country or they would be shot," counsel added. They were then locked in a van.
Then another van arrived with a larger group of people associated with the people locked in the van. There was a violent confrontation during which Mr Patrick Campbell, a Belfast member of the INLA, died. A trial relating to the death is pending, Mr Birmingham added. He said the evidence would show that Duffy and O'Toole were in the group hiding at the estate, who stripped, beat and interrogated the other group.
The court adjourned sentence to January 15th. Duffy was remanded in custody and O'Toole on continuing bail.